I'm consistently awed by the skeleton and skull memento mori jewelry that was produced in the Georgian era to commemorate a person's death. Also related to memento mori: the Medieval artistic genre Danse Macabre ("Dance of Death"). In popular woodcarvings and paintings, skeletons danced among living humans young, old, rich, and poor. This served as a reminder that no matter your station in life, death unites everyone, and it can come calling at any time. Seems a little grim to us now; our modern culture kind of denies death, or doesn't like to deal with it very much. Unless you're a goth, and then Danse Macabre may be a very real part of your life.
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